December 2025 became the worst pre-holiday month for the Russian beauty industry in at least a decade – a sharp break for a market where the end of the year traditionally provided peak revenues. The demand for services of "female beauty" masters in Russia in the final month of the year decreased by 25-30%, UNN reports with reference to the Foreign Intelligence Service.
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As noted by intelligence, in Russia, consumers are abandoning non-essential spending amid rising living costs, while beauty salons are forced to raise prices due to increased fiscal pressure. Russian women are switching to an economy mode, starting with self-care expenses.
The decline in demand is due to the cumulative effect of several factors: increased tax burden, the war against Ukraine, international sanctions, high rents, and the general increase in the cost of the basic consumer basket. In response to rising costs, some beauty industry professionals are abandoning rented premises and switching to providing services at home. This allows them to keep prices at the usual level, but such "home beauty salons" mostly operate outside the tax field, which leads to a gradual outflow of the economy and middle segments of the industry into the shadows
The beauty market is just one example of the Kremlin's war economy pressure on non-food industries that previously improved the quality of life. As of the end of the year, every third Russian reduced spending on entertainment and travel. Most of the population refused to visit cafes and restaurants, while 28% stopped spending even on street food. Every fifth began to save on communication services, intelligence adds.
Russians are being pushed into a strict economy mode not only by rising costs but also by deepening uncertainty about the future.
Russian economy enters a phase of controlled chaos - intelligence27.12.25, 05:37